This archive report was first published on 20 October 2019.
Chinese state television has escalated a feud with the National Basketball Association (N.B.A.) by threatening 'retribution' against Commissioner Adam Silver.
The public warning was broadcast on Saturday evening in a commentary by China Central Television (CCTV), which also called Silver's statement 'ugly' and a 'lie' to discredit China.
The incident is the latest escalation in a dispute that began early this month when Daryl Morey, the general manager of the Houston Rockets, posted a tweet supportive of the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests.
On Thursday, Silver said at the Time 100 Health Summit that the Chinese government had asked the N.B.A. to fire Morey, but the league refused.
“We said there’s no chance that’s happening,” Silver said. “There’s no chance we’ll even discipline him.”
However, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, Geng Shuang, pushed back on that characterization, saying the Chinese government “never posed this requirement.”
The dispute has put the N.B.A.'s partnership with China at risk, with Beijing worried that the debate over Morey's tweet could attract support for the Hong Kong protesters from athletes and fans around the world.
Beijing officials have even begun to fret that the Hong Kong dispute may lead to calls for a boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
On Friday night, at least 100 demonstrators showed up to a preseason game in Brooklyn to express support for the Hong Kong protests.
